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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169054">The Strange Tale of the Tortoiseshell in Oliver's Closet</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagusLibera/pseuds/MagusLibera'>MagusLibera</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Arrow (TV 2012)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adorable William, Cats, F/M, Family Feels, Felicity as a cat, Fluff, Mentions of PTSD, Mentions of Panic Attacks, Minor Character Death, Protective Felicity Smoak, Protective Oliver Queen, Shapeshifting, Single Parent Oliver Queen, Smoak Queen Family, Witchcraft, doting, in the past</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:15:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,649</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169054</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagusLibera/pseuds/MagusLibera</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity is descended from witches, their blood in her veins allows her to shapeshift into a cat. Normally, she has perfect control over this, but then she loses control one day and turns but cannot turn back.</p><p>William wants a cat but Oliver is unwilling to get one. Then they find a blue eyed tortoiseshell stray in an alley. Only thing is that she seems more reluctant to come home with them than Oliver is to have her come.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>203</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Strange Tale of the Tortoiseshell in Oliver's Closet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/andachippedcup/gifts">andachippedcup</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is for Shel and also for Amelia. Because I love you both so much, you're the most wonderful human and cat duo I know and I hope that this silly fic makes you smile &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shivering on all fours behind the shadow of a doorway in an already dark alley, Felicity can feel all hope of getting out of this predicament leaving her. It has never happened to her before, not in all of the time that she has been able to shift into the form of a small tortoiseshell cat with predominantly black markings and abnormally human looking bright blue eyes. Which has been her entire life. The ability to turn into a cat has been a genetic trait passed down through the female line of her family for generations. Felicity has never once met anybody beyond her mother and bubbe with the ability, which is why she and her family have always been so careful to keep their strange ability under wraps.</p><p> </p><p>According to her bubbe, the ability is the remnants of the powers of Felicity’s magical ancestors and, whilst the abilities and rituals of her foremothers have been long since lost to them, their shifting has stuck with them through the ages. But this… this is a whole new kind of strange. Something she has never come across in her entire life, her years on earth have been. Neither her mother nor bubbe ever mentioned anything like this happening ever before.</p><p> </p><p>Her day started normally. She woke up, went to work, tried not to fall asleep as she wiped yet another executive with a six figure salary’s computer of a litany of viruses and an excessive amount of increasingly disturbing porn. All regular stuff. Things started to get weird around lunch when, as she always does, she had gone down to her favourite coffee place for lunch. There, she had bumped into none other than Oliver Queen, the son of the woman who owns Queen Consolidated, where Felicity works.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver Queen is something of a curiosity to the media of Starling City. Once a careless playboy, he had been expected to take over the family company after the death of his father, Robert Queen. But after a short stint interning under Robert’s CFO, Walter, who stepped into the CEO position following the elder Queen’s death, Oliver had dropped out and disappeared for five years. After five years of the public wondering what could have happened to the Queen scion, he burst back onto the headlines with a culinary degree and years of experience that he used to open up his own restaurant, <em>Verdant</em>, in the Glades.</p><p> </p><p>Not long after, Oliver had also gained a son, William, after the boy’s mother died in a car accident, leaving Oliver with sole custody. That prompted a renewed interest in him from the press, who had retreated from his daily affairs after a few months when his restaurant venture did not only not crash and burn, but became a resounding success with critics praising his cooking. They plagued him, his mother, sister and Walter who had become his stepfather in his years away about the nature of Oliver and William’s mother’s relationship. They wanted to know who she was, why nobody had heard of her or William, how involved Oliver had been in William’s life and a hundred other incredibly invasive things. In the end, the Queens were forced to admit that Oliver had not known about William until a lawyer had contacted him, telling him that he was listed as the boy’s father.</p><p> </p><p>In the two years since then, the media attention had died down again, leaving Oliver and his now nine year old son in peace and Oliver’s restaurant has become one of the best in the city, with people coming to Starling specifically to try the food there. Felicity approves of that as she knows that Queen exclusively employs locals from the Glades where the restaurant is, and the revenue that it is bringing the community and its people is already having a profound effect on many who live there.</p><p> </p><p>So for him to be seen in the business district where he neither lives nor works and a place that he reportedly avoids was rather surprising. Especially since Felicity sent her latte spilling all over him after literally bumping into him. After apologising profusely and blushing as he insisted that it was no matter, they separated and Felicity gave little more thought to it beyond her mortification, putting the event behind her. But then she started to feel funny. She could feel her body aching in the way that it sometimes did before she shifted, her eyes twitching as if flitting between their more human and more catlike appearances. In the afternoon, as she worked, her focus kept slipping and her fingernails lengthened frighteningly, starting to look suspiciously like claws. It was all that she could do not to turn into her tortoiseshell form right there and then.</p><p> </p><p>She rushed through her day, running from the building the minute that she was done, so desperate to get away and blinded by the pain of holding off the change that she took nothing with her but the clothes on her back as she stumbled home. She only made it halfway before she felt the change coming over her uncontrollably. It was terrifying. Never before had she lost control of her shifting like that, never before had she heard of any of her family losing control. But there she was, crawling into an alley to hide from plain sight as her fur sprung from her skin, her fingers morphed into full claws, her legs and arms restructured themselves and she shrunk down into animal form.</p><p> </p><p>For hours she sat shivering, exhausted from the day of fighting her body, from the change. She felt worse than she ever had before after a change, completely drained of everything and it kept her lying there for far too long. Eventually, the skies opened, bringing freezing wintery rain down onto her thin form and rousing her enough to take shelter.</p><p> </p><p>And now she sits, fur sodden, trying to get her body to shift back into her human form as she arranges her human clothes, which fell in a heap around her after her change, in a nest-like shape for her to sit in. The clothes offer some much needed warmth and comfort but are wet themselves and so she still cannot get warm enough. Her body tremors uncontrollably, her mind straining to make her human body burst from her feline one but it is no use, she is stuck. Totally, completely and utterly stuck. As a cat. In an alley in the Glades with her phone and keys left on her desk at work and nowhere to go. Her bubbe passed before Felicity ever even went to MIT, Donna is a thousand miles away in Las Vegas, an unattainable distance for Felicity’s little paws to make and she has no idea how to contact anybody in this form.</p><p> </p><p>Hopelessness settling in, she resigns herself to spending a night freezing in her clothes, too tired and cold and hungry to think rationally about what she is going to do now.</p><p> </p><p>Judging by the light, it must be late evening when she hears two voices passing the alley. One is older, richer, undeniably male and warm. Also, perhaps, just a little familiar? The other younger, probably in his early teens and extremely excitable. She cannot determine what it is that makes her get up and investigate, but she finds herself uncurling from the clothing and trotting through the rain to see the duo passing by.</p><p>*************************</p><p>“But Dad!” William exclaims, “If we got a cat we wouldn’t have to worry about looking after it during the day. I’ve been reading up on them and they’re pretty much self-sufficient. They just need food and water and a litter tray and they’re basically set, you can leave them all day while I’m at school and you’re at work and they’ll be fine.”</p><p> </p><p>“William, we’re not getting a cat.” Oliver denies his son, fighting the urge to rub his hand over his face in exasperation. William has been asking for a pet for almost as long as he has been living with Oliver and he is running out of ways to say no to his son. He just does not have the mental capacity to add yet another little life that will be dependent on his for survival. Since taking William in after learning that he had, in fact, been born but Samantha had passed away he has spent every moment of his life on the edge, worrying about his son’s safety and happiness and everything that a parent worries about. That, on top of his concern for Thea and everybody else he loves, is more than enough for him.</p><p> </p><p>“But <em>why</em> dad? There is no logical reason for us to not get one! Not when it would make me so happy.” William’s big eyes shine up at Oliver in a way that he knows his son is aware he finds hard to resist but resist he does.</p><p>“Maybe my reason isn’t logical.” He says, somewhat truthfully.</p><p>William frowns, “Well if you’re refusing to be logical, you should listen to my logic and get a cat.”</p><p>“No-” Oliver stops his refusal to his son as he spots a glint of something at the edge of the alleyway up ahead, “What’s that?”</p><p> </p><p>“What’s what?” William follows his father’s gaze, trying to spot whatever it is that Oliver has seen.</p><p>“I just saw something… stay here.” He orders the boy, “Let me go check.”</p><p>“Dad.” William’s voice is trembling a little, “Be careful.” Oliver nods, knowing that his son’s trauma from the car accident is still something that he deals with on a daily basis, knowing that William often has nightmares in which he watches the people he loves die right before him as he had with his mother.</p><p> </p><p>On bad days, William has panic attacks from his anxiety worrying about his loved ones, and Oliver going into a dark alley late at night on the way back from <em>Verdant</em> will not exactly help matters. But he needs to check it out, he is unsure what makes him know that he needs to look, whether it is borne of protectiveness for William or some sort of instinct or just plain curiousness but he needs to go and look.</p><p> </p><p>Padding silently to the alley, Oliver draws to mind everything that he can remember from his training with John Diggle, his bodyguard and friend who works security for both QC and the restaurant. That glimmer that first drew him in becomes visible again, making him lunge forwards without a warning to find out what the cause is. As he goes crashing to the ground, he hears a loud meowl and feels a soft mass beneath his body, small and fluffy and very much hissing and clawing at him. Sitting up, he wrangles the small mammal into his arms, holding it in such a way that it cannot get to him to claw at him.</p><p> </p><p>“Dad?” William asks, appearing at the end of the alley, “Is that a cat?”</p><p>Oliver pays attention to the writhing mass in his hands and sees that yes, it is indeed a cat. Just his luck. It is a small shorthaired tortoiseshell with wide green eyes that are almost frighteningly human in appearance, an intelligence behind them that gives Oliver the shivers. He knows that cats are intelligent but he is pretty sure that they are not supposed to look at him like they know everything about him.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes.” Is all that he says, not spotting the way that his boy’s eyes light up.</p><p>“Really?” William checks excitedly, “Is there a collar? Any identifying tags?”</p><p>“No.” Oliver replies distractedly, still trying to get the cat to stop squirming.</p><p>“Dad,” William’s tone finally tears Oliver’s attention away from those startling eyes and onto his son, “Don’t you see? It’s fate!” Oliver’s heart drops. No, no, no, no, no, no. No.</p><p> </p><p>“William, no.” Oliver groans, hissing as the cat’s claws dig into the flesh between his thumb and forefinger.</p><p>“Yes dad! We were just walking along talking about getting a cat-”</p><p>“Talking about how we’re definitely <em>not</em> getting a cat.” Oliver interrupts.</p><p>William does not even pause for his father’s interjection, “-and here one is! Look at her, she’s all alone and wet and scared, she needs a home.”</p><p>“She?” Oliver frowns.</p><p>“She’s a she. I can just tell.” Not wanting to go looking for anything, Oliver does not question William any further.</p><p> </p><p>“So we can keep her?” William grins.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>William pouts, “She can be my birthday present.”</p><p>“Your birthday was last week.”</p><p>“She can be a late present.” William barters.</p><p>“William, I bought you presents for your birthday and your aunt spoiled you rotten.” Oliver sighs, thinking of all of the stuff his sister had bought William that is cluttering up their apartment.</p><p>“Please? She needs us.” William begs.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver has to admit that his son makes a good point about the cat being alone on a wet night with no discernible owner, but he also definitely does not want a cat, “We’ll take her home for tonight and then take her to the vet’s to get checked and see if she has a chip.” He tries not to wince at the way that William is beaming, “If she does, we’ll have to get her home.”</p><p>“But if she doesn’t we can keep her?”</p><p>Oliver sighs, hoping with everything in him that the cat is microchipped and has a frightened owner somewhere desperately looking for her because he no longer has the will to deny William, “Fine, we can keep her.”</p><p> </p><p>William cheers in jubilation.</p><p>*************************</p><p>In the arms of <em>Oliver freaking Queen</em> of all people, Felicity is carried away from the alley in which she found herself stuck in animal form for the first time in her life and towards, presumably, the home that he shares with his son. She squirms in his huge, strong hands the entire way back, mind in a state of total panic as she realises that if they get her there her chances of escape will be few and far between – which could, if she is unable to turn back, mean that she is stuck as the Queen family cat for the foreseeable future. That <em>cannot</em> happen.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, Oliver Queen is strong and determined enough that he is able to keep her within his grasp all the way back (though he is sporting a considerable number of scratches from her by the time they get there). He and his son, William, wrangle her into their apartment and the locking of the door behind them feels like the closing of prison bars to Felicity. She is trapped. She panics, racing through the apartment until she finds a safe place to hide. Her safe place happens to be the closet in none other than Oliver’s bedroom. She can hear the two of them looking for her, but she stays trembling in the comforting dark without making a sound, despair filling her as she thinks about just how much worse her situation got.</p><p> </p><p>It is Oliver who finds her curled up in there on one of his shirts. He calls William through, letting the boy know that she is found and then instructs William to leave her there as he goes to make some food for them. William follows his father’s instructions but does not leave her alone. Instead, he sets himself up beside the closet with a tablet and just sits quietly with her. Something about that simple gesture calms Felicity enough that she is able to stop trembling and think rationally. Oliver said that they would take her to the vet’s. That is another chance for her to escape. And even if she cannot, surely she will turn back sometime soon and be able to escape in human form. <em>Surely</em>. She cannot stay like this for long. With any luck, she will turn whilst he and William are out and she’ll be able to sneak away without any fuss.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver returns after a while with a plate of raw salmon. Felicity knows that salmon is a food that she can digest healthily in her cat form and, whilst it is not her favourite, it is something that she is willing to eat. She may currently look like a cat but she refuses to go near any kind of cat food for as long as she is stuck this way. That stuff looks nasty. Grateful to Oliver for finding something that will be good for her, she purrs at him as soon as he places the plate into the closet with her, explaining to William, “I looked up foods that cats can eat and this was top of the list so it will do for now. Leave her be, William, dinner’s ready.”</p><p> </p><p>The two boys leave her to eat, which she is grateful for because she is not enjoying the indignity of having to eat like a cat rather than with her lovely human hands and opposable thumbs and cutlery. Convincing herself that it is only temporary, she digs in and shortly after finishing her meal she curls up in the closet and sleeps, the stress of the day catching up to her.</p><p>*************************</p><p>The new cat is asleep by the time Oliver goes back to check on her once he and William are done eating. She looks peaceful in her sleep, far less stressed and she is, though he will never admit it aloud, sort of cute when she is not trying to scratch his arm off. William wants to pick her up and pet her but Oliver convinces his son to let the cat sleep after her stressful day and he reluctantly agrees. With the cat asleep and the hour growing ever later, Oliver and William go to bed themselves, Oliver doing his utmost to ignore the fact that there is a sleeping cat in his closet as he does.</p><p> </p><p>It is the cat that wakes Oliver up the next morning, her persistent meowing at the foot of his bed louder and more disruptive than his alarm could ever be. He jumps into wakefulness, going from asleep to alert in the span of a second and looks around for the source of the noise before remembering the latest addition to his household. She is frantically pacing along his bedside, urging him for something and Oliver slowly gets to his feet to figure out what it is that she wants. The second that he is standing, she runs over to the door that leads to his en-suite bathroom and gently scratches at it, enough to make her desires clear but not enough to actually damage the door.</p><p> </p><p>Perplexed, Oliver opens the door for her and watches as she leaps up onto the toilet. He cannot figure out what her behaviour is about, but then she turns her eerily intelligent eyes on him and, without her doing anything, he can just tell that she is demanding that he leave the room. He hesitates, not wanting to leave the stray alone to destroy his bathroom or something but the impatient, exasperated look on the cat’s face almost scolds him into doing it and he steps out. A short while later, Oliver is baffled to hear the sounds of a flushing toilet and running tap and he runs back into the room to watch her… washing her hands? She is washing her hands. There is a stray cat in Oliver’s bathroom washing her hands in his sink. He blinks a dozen times. Blinks again. Shakes his head. Rubs his eyes. Pinches himself. She is still doing it.</p><p> </p><p>She gracefully hops down from the sink and proceeds to rub her paws up against Oliver’s big, fluffy towel as if drying them and then she trots right out of the room and back into her closet where she falls asleep once again.</p><p> </p><p>On wooden legs, Oliver walks back out to his bedroom and plops down on his bed, trying to make sense of what he has just seen. Because if he is right it is absurd. How would a stray cat know how to use a toilet and then wash their hands? It makes no sense. There is no way. He must still be dreaming. He looks at his phone to see the time, hoping to just go back to sleep and then wake up to find out that this was all a figment of his imagination. It is quarter past four in the morning. Excellent. He still has over an hour of sleep before he has to get up, He settles back against the pillows, well aware of the feline curled up not so far from him, fast asleep, and tried to drift off himself. It does not work. He lays there for hours, wide awake. All that he can think of is her piercing eyes on him, her strange behaviour. Something feels off about that cat and all that he can do is hope that she gets taken away when they go to the vet. Even if he is kind of growing curious about her now.</p><p> </p><p>He gets up early, figuring that if he is not going to sleep he might as well do something productive and sort out what needs sorting. He does some research and books in an appointment with a veterinary clinic nearby and then proceeds to prepare the other half of the salmon that he fed her the night before and some regular breakfast for he and William.</p><p> </p><p>His son is the next to awaken. William comes into the room mid yawn and grins at Oliver, “Where’s the cat, Dad?” William asks, looking around.</p><p>“Still asleep.” Oliver informs the boy, “She woke up at about four and then went back to sleep and as far as I’m aware she hasn’t moved since.” He chooses not to tell William about the cat’s strange habits.</p><p>“Oh, okay.”</p><p>“I got in with the vet at nine so I’ll take her down then. You’re going to stay here and finish your homework.” Oliver instructs.</p><p>“What?” William protests, “No! I want to come to the vet’s too!”</p><p>“No, William. I know you’ll be distracted by the cat all day if she’s here. I’m going to take her to get checked and to see if anybody is missing her and you’re going to do everything that needs doing for school and whatever else you’ve got on in your life and then by the time I get back you’ll be all done and you can spend your time with her.” He already came up with his argument whilst his son was sleeping in anticipation of William disagreeing and he is determined to get his way.</p><p> </p><p>“But what if they find her home and they take her back and I never get to see her again?” William looks upset and Oliver can already see his resolve crumbling.</p><p>He steels himself, “William, I just managed to get an appointment at one of the most in demand veterinary clinics in the city on the day of. I think I have enough influence to prevent them from taking the cat before you can say goodbye. I’ll convince them to let me bring her back here to wait for her owner if that’s the case, okay?”</p><p>William thinks it over, “Promise?”</p><p>“Do you trust me?” William nods in response, “Promise.”</p><p> </p><p>Getting her to the vet’s is a nightmare. The second that he opens the door to the apartment she starts fighting to get away again in complete distress. He barely manages to keep a hold on her and opening his car is almost impossible but he somehow manages it. He sits with her in his arms and then shuts the door, making sure that there is no escape left for her before he apprehensively lowers her to the seat next to him, expecting her to attack the second that he lets go. Instead, she just curls up in a dejected manner, staring at him with accusing eyes.</p><p> </p><p>He does his best to ignore her on the drive and once again has the trouble of wrangling her from the car and into the clinic. The only reason that she does not escape is because he picks her up and gets her as secure as possible before he opens the door. Thankfully, the wait to see the vet is relatively short as she keeps fighting for escape every time the door opens to let people and their pets in and out.</p><p> </p><p>Seeing the vet is a whole other issue. She lets out indignant hisses every time the poor woman touches her, as if she is being offended by the procedure. The vet manages to do enough to tell him that she seems fairly healthy and he has done the right thing by feeding her salmon. She then checks the cat for a microchip or anything else, struggling to get her to sit still long enough for the scanner to detect anything but the vet is a professional. She finds a way and is able to inform him, to his dismay, that the violent little thing has no signs of ever having an owner before.</p><p> </p><p>He is sure that William will be thrilled. Looks like they have a cat now.</p><p> </p><p>The receptionist is kind enough to kit him out with the provisions that he will need to look after her properly. Including, to his relief, a carrier. He gets more cuts trying to force her into the carrier than he thinks he ever has in his entire life before – and he has his fair share of cuts – but he succeeds and then has to force himself to ignore her despairing gaze from behind the bars.</p><p> </p><p>William is, of course, ecstatic to know that they will be able to keep her. Oliver makes sure that the apartment door is safely closed before letting her slink out of the carrier with a dirty look back at him. He is wary of her lashing out after her distressing morning but, instead, when William joyously scoops her into his arms, she snuggles in and starts to purr against the child’s chest, all the while glaring at Oliver.</p><p> </p><p>“I think we’ll call you Regina.” William muses after a while, the cat still in his arms. She looks up at him with what Oliver could swear is a quizzical expression, like she understands what they are saying. If she were not a cat, he would also swear that she looks a little displeased.</p><p>“Why Regina, bud?”</p><p>“Because the name means queen and it looks like she’s the new Queen of the house.” William grins at the double meaning to his joke and Oliver’s heart cannot help but soften towards the cat just a little at his son’s smile. It lasts for one second before, with a sly grin, William quips, “She’s the boss now.” And the little fur ball has the gall to <em>smirk</em> (how can a cat even smirk?) up at him as if to say, ‘<em>Yes, yes I am</em>.”</p><p>Oliver cannot help but snort, even as he eyes her warily, watching her puff up with pride at the attention William is giving her as he scratches between her ears.</p><p> </p><p>They settle into a routine with the cat – who stubbornly refuses to respond to the name Regina even though Oliver can tell that she understands that they are addressing her when they say it. Every night she sleeps in her little nest of stolen fabric in Oliver’s closet and does not make a peep until the early morning when she demands to be let into the bathroom. Oliver quickly learns to just leave the door open for her so that he can ignore the fact that his cat uses his bathroom (she has graduated to also using the shower and Oliver has never once seen her grooming herself like a regular cat) like a human. He pointedly pretends that he does not hear the water running in the middle of the night and that he finds cat hairs in his shower constantly.</p><p> </p><p>She then gets up and eats her breakfast, which is never, <em>ever</em> the food that Oliver bought from the vet. For three days, he did everything that he could think of to make her eat it, offering her wet foods and kibble in dozens of forms and even going so far as attempting to trick her with it. Nothing worked, she just turned up her nose haughtily and scratched at the fridge where he keeps all of his lovely, expensive human foods. It got to the point where he decided that the only way to get her to eat the cat food would be to allow her to come close to starvation on a regular basis and that, in combination with William’s distraught pleading, was what forced him to find alternatives.</p><p><br/>
Now, the fussiest cat in the world enjoys a diet of fish and meat dishes cooked by an actual professional chef. In addition to that, he also feeds her a little bit of egg for breakfast each morning and, once she started demanding it whenever she saw Oliver and William eating it, portions of certain fruits that she can safely digest. Oliver is certain that she is the most spoiled cat in history and she either had a previous owner who treated her like a little human or she has it in her head that she <em>is</em> one somehow.</p><p> </p><p>William naturally thinks that all of this behaviour is adorable and he even praises her for it.</p><p> </p><p>They do have to be careful whenever they leave the house. After a few near disasters, Oliver makes sure to shut her in his bedroom before leaving so that there is a barrier between her and the opening front door that will keep her from escaping. As time goes on though. He notices her escape attempts becoming fewer and further between.</p><p> </p><p>She adores William, she does not leave his side the entire time that he is home, insisting on curling up around his feet or shoulders or wherever she can get that is remotely near him. Oliver thinks that she sort of treats William like her kitten, constantly fussing over him and making sure that he is looking after himself. When William got too distracted by a project he was working on once, Oliver could swear that he saw Regina intentionally sit on his laptop until he got up and got some food and a drink.</p><p> </p><p>She is less adoring of Oliver. She always gravitates towards William, slinking away from Oliver whenever he is near and she only gets within grabbing distance of him when she trots into his closet to sleep for the night. William insists that it is because she can sense that Oliver did not want her in the first place and that if he were just a little nicer and more loving with her, she would warm up to him. Oliver disagrees with this assessment for two major reasons. The first is that he is already spoiling her beyond what any normal cat would get with her borderline human diet and lifestyle. The second is that he is fairly certain that her dislike of him is heavily tied to the fact that he has prevented her from escaping the house and she is rather unhappy about that.</p><p> </p><p>He does try though, for William’s sake. And maybe a little because he sort of likes his weird cat.</p><p>*************************</p><p>Felicity has been living with William and Oliver for over a month. A month in her cat form, totally unable to shift back. Or escape. Or anything, really, other than laze about the house all day every day. Not that she has been trying all that hard in the week or so. Though she is embarrassed to admit it, she has grown complacent here and her attempts to escape the apartment have grown fewer and further between, not to mention far more sloppy, and half the time she is reluctant to even try to turn back into her human form when the boys are out of the house.</p><p> </p><p>She has still tried some things, and every time she thinks of her mother she gets a pang of guilt shooting through her. Whilst she may never have been the most diligent daughter in calling Donna, she always makes sure to do so at least once every week or so and she can imagine that the older woman is starting to grow concerned by now. If she does not already know that she is missing, that is. But she probably already knows. After all, Felicity did just vanish from her desk one day, leaving her belongings behind. Her superiors must have noticed her absence by now, and they must have contacted <em>somebody</em> about it.</p><p> </p><p>The realisation makes her feel uncomfortable. She should have spent every last second of the last couple of weeks trying to shift and get home but instead she has been sitting around all day, leaving her mother to fear for her. She is all that Donna Smoak has left. She feels so selfish.</p><p> </p><p>But in her time at Oliver Queen’s house she has learnt so much. About him. About William. About their little family.</p><p> </p><p>In her short weeks there, she has met the figures in his life. His sister, Thea, comes around often in order to watch over William as Oliver is off at work. William and Thea have a very sweet, playful relationship, the younger girl only just more than a decade older than the boy though even at her young age, she is still an excellent carer and William obviously loves and trusts her a lot. She definitely dotes on him too. His friend Tommy also visits sometimes, which William always gets rather excited about as Tommy seems like a child himself half the time. Felicity has read about Tommy in the past, when he used to spend his time getting into trouble in clubs but he has mellowed more over the past few years and has opened a non-profit in the Glades in honour of his mother. The Diggles are also a common fixture in the household. Oliver’s trainer, ex-bodyguard, current security manager for <em>Verdant</em> and good friend Diggle, his fiancée Lyla and their adorable five month old twins. William dotes on the twins and has a lot of respect for both of the ex-marines who parent the lively babies.</p><p> </p><p>All of them are surprised to see Felicity there, but once William gets to talking about how much he adores his new pet cat and tries to show her off to whoever will look, they all get an identical expression of understanding on their faces. They look, eyes soft and comprehending, between where William and ‘Regina’ are and where Oliver is and say nothing. But they all do it.</p><p> </p><p>One person who Felicity notices is definitely absent from all of these visits is Moira Queen, Oliver’s mother. It is not until she listens in on a conversation between Thea and Oliver that she understands. From what she heard, Oliver’s relationship with his mother has been tumultuous since the arrival of William into his life. It seems that Moira had something to do with the fact that Oliver missed the first six years of his son’s life and he has not forgiven her for it. Thea also seems to have a difficult relationship with the matriarch and has moved out to live with her boyfriend, but both are trying to improve things and forgive their mother’s mistakes.</p><p> </p><p>It hurts Felicity to think that Oliver’s own mother would keep him from William for so long. She has seen the two of them together, she sees how much they adore one another every single day. It is impossible to imagine a world in which either of them would benefit from not knowing one another, to think of why Moira would have done it.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver is an incredible father. Nothing about the rumours she has heard around the office and read on the covers of magazines at the store are true. He loves William beyond compare, she would be hard pressed to find a parent more attentive and doting than he is to that young boy. She can tell that he did not want a cat in the slightest, and yet he keeps her around and attends to her demands just because it makes William happy. As somebody with a father who would have a good chance of winning the ‘Suckiest Dad Ever’ award, Felicity knows how amazing Oliver is being, how good he is for his son. She would be lying if she said that seeing him try to help William with homework that he does not really understand but wants to be of assistance with anyway and seeing him cook and clean and do everything before rushing off to his long work hours did not do something to her.</p><p> </p><p>And as for William, he is the sweetest boy Felicity has ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is so, so bright. A prodigy, really, if the homework she has spied is any indication. Much like she was at his age. But that is not what endears her to him. It does help, for sure, their common ground as far as interests and intelligence goes, but what makes her love William is his heart. The boy has gone through so much, he has survived so much, and yet he is still the brightest, kindest young man Felicity has ever had the fortune to know.</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes he has panic attacks, or wakes up at night screaming. It always makes Felicity’s heart race, her need to go to him and protect him from whatever is causing him such pain greater than anything else. Oliver is excellent whenever William is in one of these states, doing exactly the right thing to bring his son back into the moment and to calm him down in  a well-practiced manner. It makes Felicity wonder how many times they have gone through the ritual in order to make it so well-practiced, and how many times they tried things that failed in helping William. In one particularly bad incident, Felicity helplessly thinks of anything that she can do and, before she is fully aware of her own movements, she leaps onto the boy’s chest, curling up there. Oliver’s eyes flash angrily, ready to knock her away to protect his son from any bad reaction her actions may have caused but instead, William settles at the pressure, curling around her tiny feline form with his head pillowed in his father’s knee as he drifts off to sleep.</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes, she wonders if the universe had something to do with all of this, if she is stuck in this quadrupedal form not because of her own mistake but because of some outside force pushing her into this situation. To Oliver and William. It seems silly for many reasons, not least of which is the idea of the universe caring enough about her dull life to get involved in it, but there is something in her that makes her feel at home with these boys. Something that tells her that she is finally where she is meant to be, by their side. Now if only she could turn two of her legs into arms and regain her sorely missed opposable thumbs and the ability to talk, things would be perfect.</p><p> </p><p>But that is the other thing, the thing that she most struggles with. And, if she were to be honest with herself, she would admit that it is what has been keeping her from making every effort to escape. Because the minute that she leaves, she will have to find a way to turn back and the minute that she turns back, that is it. That is the end for her relationship with Oliver and William. It is something that she is not quite ready for. She has grown so fond of the two of them and with each passing minute she only gets more attached. She wants to be a part of their lives, wants to be around them and get to know them for the rest of their lives. She feels like there is something telling her that her job is not yet done, she still needs to be there for them for a while longer.</p><p> </p><p>Of course, she would rather do that in her human form, in a form that will allow her to help William with his homework properly and to ask Oliver all of the questions she wants to ask him. The form that will allow her to hold them both and shower them with the affection she feels for them. But that is not an option, and right now the idea of losing them is becoming almost more difficult to bear than the idea of remaining a cat for the foreseeable future.</p><p> </p><p>So she may have become a little complacent, but she reasons that there is really very little that she could do anyway. And the longer that she stays, the more time she will get with them, so it really cannot be all that bad. Right?</p><p>*************************</p><p>The cat only gets stranger.</p><p> </p><p>She was strange enough, what with her hygiene habits and her dietary demands and just everything about her, but she still somehow gets even more odd. He first notices it when she is sat next to William as the boy does his maths homework. Her eyes are intently fixed on the page that William’s pen is flying across, and at first Oliver makes the mistake of forgetting that his cat is decidedly not normal and thinks that she is watching the pen move. A grin makes his lips twitch just slightly as he turns his attention to her, under the impression that she is about to pounce onto the pen. She does not. Instead, her paw swipes out, batting at William’s hand. William pays her little attention, brushing her aside as he continues working the problem.</p><p> </p><p>Then she does pounce, but <em>not</em> onto the pen. No, with a frustrated hiss, she launches herself directly onto William’s hand, pinning it down and then she reaches out with her paw and scratches at the page. “Hey!” William protests, “No, Regina!” but the damage is already done and, after shucking her from his hand and onto the floor, William looks down to inspect it to find that she has scratched out one of his solutions. Grumbling, William goes to rewrite the answer, only to pause. “Huh,” Oliver hears his son say, “That’s not right.” Oliver looks over curiously, waiting to hear more, “Well, Regina,” William finally continues, “You shouldn’t make a habit of scratching up my homework like that but I have to thank you this time, you completely got rid of that mistake. Could’ve been a disaster otherwise.”</p><p> </p><p>Oliver would swear upon anything that, as she turns with a flourish of her tail and hops back onto William’s knee, she has an expression that sits somewhere between proud and self-satisfied at William’s work.</p><p> </p><p>If he did not know that cat as well as he does, Oliver would write it off as a coincidence. But he does know her, and he has looked into her bright, intelligent eyes and he knows what he saw there. So the next time that he sees her sitting with William as he does his homework, he makes sure to keep a watchful eye on the two of them. It happens again. And, once again, the part of William’s homework that she attacks is incorrect. She is helping William with his homework. Somehow.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver’s family cat is trying to be his son’s tutor.</p><p> </p><p>He is her next target. In a rare moment, she actually approaches him and comes to sit next to him one morning when he is having technical issues with his laptop as he attempts to do the finances for <em>Verdant</em>. Oliver has no clue why she has chosen that moment to come up to him, he is rather loudly cursing up a storm and pretty sure that any ordinary pet would stay further away under those circumstances. Not Regina though. No, she trots up and hops on his lap, staring at his computer’s monitor. Oliver freezes. He does not want to disturb her, does not want to move an inch. He wants to see what she is going to do.</p><p> </p><p>She does not disappoint. This time, she does make an attempt to hide her actions. She stands up and climbs onto his laptop, walking across it just like any other cat may nonchalantly do. But she is not nonchalant. She is cautious, carefully selecting where each step will land, treading across the keyboard gently, so as not to damage a thing. Oliver is so occupied by watching her that he does not see what is happening on the device but when she finally jumps down, only pausing to give a little nod at her handiwork, he looks and sees that the problem is entirely gone. Somehow.</p><p> </p><p>When things go missing around the house and neither Oliver nor William can find them no matter where they look, they turn up in a spot on the kitchen island by the time they get home. Somehow.</p><p> </p><p>One time, Oliver even forgets a number that he needed to remember and, as he sits groaning at himself for not writing it down, she gets his phone and taps on it with her claws safely retracted. When he notices, he lunges forwards to take it back and looks down at the screen to see that the exact number he had forgotten is shining back up at him from the display. Somehow.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver does consider that he might be going insane and imagining it all, but then one night William turns to him, one hand on Regina’s purring head, and says, “Dad? Regina’s not a normal cat, is she?”</p><p>Cautious, Oliver asks, “What do you mean?”</p><p>“She does things a cat shouldn’t be able to do, she knows things she shouldn’t be able to know and half the time she acts like she’s a human in an excellent disguise. And sometimes, when I look in her eyes, what I see isn’t a cat, it’s a person, and she’s so clever.”</p><p>Relief is so overwhelming that Oliver sighs audibly, tension leaving him as he realises that he is not going mad. Or if he is, he is not the only one, “I see it too.” He confesses and watches that same relief go through his son, “She’s not normal.”</p><p>“What does that mean?” William’s attention is all on Oliver, worry and confusion colouring his voice, so he does not see it as Regina’s ears perk up, betraying her interest in their conversation. But Oliver does.</p><p>“I don’t know, Buddy.” He replies honestly, “I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to wait to see.” It is the only answer Oliver has, he does not know what else they can do. All he knows is that they cannot just throw her out, not now.</p><p>*************************</p><p>Oliver and William’s conversation about her reawakens something in Felicity. Hearing them talk about her like that reminds her of who she is, everything that she has outside of the two of them. It reminds her that it is not fair to her or to either of them for her to keep living there as their cat. The longer that it goes on, the more painful it will be when she leaves. And she will have to leave one day. She cannot stay a cat forever. Someday, somehow, she will regain her human form and be forced to leave them and they will not want anything to do with her anymore. It will hurt, and they will be hurt too.</p><p> </p><p>Their talk reminds her of that, of how much she will hurt them when she turns back, and she knows that she cannot remain complacent. She has to get out, for all of their sakes, whether she escapes in her human or cat form, this has to come to an end. The thought that she is going to hurt them, the boy she loves with everything she has and the man whose kindness and compassion and caring nature has worked its way inextricably into her heart, it is unbearable.</p><p> </p><p>She has no resources available to her and no way to get any or to consult with her mother or anybody else. For too long, she has used that as an excuse to just sit around and wait for her problem to resolve itself, but now she cannot live like that anymore. She is a brilliant woman, she worked out how to help William with his homework, how to fix Oliver’s WiFi with her paws, she finds a way. Oliver leaves his laptop out, reachable. She takes her chance.</p><p> </p><p>Even though she knows all of the right places to go on the internet to find out about her magic, she can find nothing. <em>Nothing</em>. No mention of this ever happening before, no mention of what may have caused it, nothing about how to fix it. There is <em>nothing</em> there, and she feels despair start to set in again, the thought that she will never get back to her life, never have the chance to truly be a part of Oliver and William’s lives as <em>herself</em> (something that she has been dreaming of more and more as the weeks have passed) setting in. It is only made more confusing by that part of her that still fears losing them if she is ever to turn back.</p><p> </p><p>She spends her days alone in the house trying everything that she can to get free or turn human or both or literally anything that will help her out and keep her boys from any more pain than necessary but to no avail. The only thing that she never tries is escaping as they come home. She cannot do that to them, not after they have finally started to grow used to her not attempting to escape and they think that their weird cat is at last comfortable in her new home. It would break William’s heart, which is the exact opposite of her goal.</p><p> </p><p>It dawns upon her that Oliver and William have come to mean so much to her that she is willing to sacrifice her freedom for a while longer if it means that she can minimise the amount of pain that she brings them with her eventual escape. She wants to just vanish from their lives, leaving them to wonder but never truly know what happened, she does not want her final days with them to be marred by her attempted escapes and making them think that she does not want to be there with them. And she will escape. She has to. Something will happen. The universe will pull through for her. Even if it is what got her into this mess in the first place.</p><p>*************************</p><p>Oliver is always very careful to make sure the cat is far away before he removes his clothes. There is just something about those eyes – far too intelligent and understanding for any normal cat – that makes him feel uncomfortable with the idea of her seeing him naked, like she will judge him for it or something. It is ridiculous, but it is also what it is. So before he showers he always double checks that she is perched in some other room so that he can lock her out of his bedroom <em>and</em> lock her out of the bathroom and he can bathe himself without prying eyes.</p><p> </p><p>William is at school and Oliver has a rare day off work. It is kind of nice to be home without William for a change. He loves his son with everything in him, and he wants to spend every spare hour of his life around his child, especially after having missed so much of William’s early years, but he also sometimes needs a little time alone. Time when, whilst his son is still on his mind, he does not actively have to be a father or a chef or anything, he can just fully relax and unwind. It is nice.</p><p> </p><p>He spent the morning exercising, something that he never gets as much time for as he would like and he can feel the good burn in his muscles from an excellent workout. The hot water raining down against his back is heavenly, soothing the ache in his body and refreshing him. He loses himself to the feeling, just enjoying a chance to bask in the small things in life for once, and it is the distracting rush of water in his ears and the haze of being lost in his own thoughts that means that he does not hear the commotion until a screeching yowl rends the air.</p><p> </p><p>The sound is so loud and painful that it jolts him back to life, making his heart pound loudly in his chest. He knows without having to check that it is Regina, something in that sound immediately recognisable from the gentle cries that he has heard from her over the last few weeks of her life here. There is a crashing sound, like something falling to the ground and several loud thuds, far louder thuds than Regina could ever make. She shrieks again, the noise sounding almost more human than cat but unmistakably the sound of great pain.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver does not even think twice about it, the only thing in his head is the idea that there must be somebody in the house. The thought that Regina is in pain and she could be badly hurt and she needs him. Because, regardless of his dismissive behaviour towards her so often, he cares a lot about that cat and he can see how much she adores William. He will love anybody and anything that loves his son like that. He cannot let anything happen to her, she does not deserve to be hurt and he knows that it will devastate William should anything happen. It will hurt him too.</p><p> </p><p>He is thundering out of the shower and towards where she is now making plaintive, pathetic meowls, muscles flexing as he prepares for a fight. But… there is nothing there. The living room is empty. There is a lamp on the floor, bulb smashed and shade bent and the coffee maker has been knocked from the side and to the floor, but that is all. No signs of forced entry or theft of any human whatsoever. There is also no sign of Regina.</p><p> </p><p>Still wary, and knowing that somebody could potentially be hiding somewhere, Oliver pads his way around the sofa, looking for any sign of what caused Regina to cry out like that. Looking for any sign of her at all. He finds her.</p><p> </p><p>She is lying on the floor, her body writhing painfully and bending in ways that no cat should be able to bend. It looks like every bone in her little body is breaking, joints opening up and bones disconnecting. It looks like her body is only being held together by the skin around it. And, he notices, she is not so little, she looks bigger, heavier, denser, like she is becoming something else entirely.</p><p> </p><p>Before his very eyes, he watches as she keeps growing, her legs getting larger and reshaping, her arms moving to the sides of her torso, shoulders restructuring so that they jut out to the side of her neck. Her fur shortens, receding into her body on her back and arms and legs, everywhere except her head, where it is elongating. Tortoiseshell fur is replaced by smooth, white skin and the dark hair around her head becomes lighter and lighter with each passing moment until it is only dark at the very roots and a bright blonde everywhere else. Within only a few moments, the cat that Oliver has grown so fond of, despite the fact that she has never seemed like a cat to him, has been replaced by a small (but definitely larger than a cat) human.</p><p> </p><p>A woman.</p><p> </p><p>A naked woman.</p><p> </p><p>A very, <em>very</em> naked woman.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver becomes painfully aware that he is also naked and still dripping water onto the floor. In his living room. With a naked female stranger. Who used to be his cat.</p><p> </p><p>There is little time to dwell on his nakedness, however, because he then realises that she is shaking like a leaf. Her eyes are wild as she looks around, trying to take everything in and she is panting for breath, her body curling in on itself. Oliver has no idea whether it is pain or fear or coldness that is causing her shivers but he suspects that it may be a combination of all three. He knows that he should react, he should do… something. Ask her if she is okay. Ask her who she is. Ask her what on Earth just happened. Put on some trousers. Offer her a blanket or clothes or anything really. Something. But instead he finds himself almost paralysed by the shock of what he just witnessed.</p><p>*************************</p><p>Felicity blinks, trying to adjust to the sudden change in her senses. After months as a feline, she has grown accustomed to feeling every small change in her whiskers, to seeing an extra ten degrees of space on either side of her head, to hearing and smelling and tasting everything. But now she is back in her human body, with her human senses, and the sudden narrowing of her awareness of the world is far more jarring than it has ever been before.</p><p> </p><p>On top of the sudden change in the way that she perceives the world, her senses are also almost entirely overwhelmed by the searing agony in her body. Changing forms always hurts a little, but this change is so much worse than any before. It happened so quickly, without any warning. Like she was forced to switch between forms against her will and the unwillingness only made it ten times worse. After so long without shifting, she can feel the prickling pain of every change that her body just went through. From the fiery burn of her receded hair to the throbbing of her limbs where the very bones have snapped and restructured.</p><p> </p><p>She is panting, overwhelmed and confused by what just happened. Because she has no idea what just happened. She was not even trying to change… Oliver was in the house, she would be stupid to try and change with him in the house.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver was in the house.</p><p> </p><p>The realisation dawns on her, making her heart race ten times faster. She just made a racket changing back, screaming out her agony and crashing around the house. There is no way that he missed that, is there? Unless the shower was too loud for him to hear through? Feeling a slight optimism that he is still safe and oblivious under the spray of water and she can sneak out without a trace, she works to make her eyes focus on what is right before her, trying to get her senses straight.</p><p> </p><p><em>Oh</em>.</p><p> </p><p>She had not thought about that.</p><p> </p><p>She had not thought about how one side effect of her recently narrowed field of view would be that it forces her to focus more on that which is directly in front of her and… <em>yeah</em>. Yep. That is <em>Oliver</em>. Right there in front of her. A very, <em>very</em> naked Oliver. And his… yep <em>that</em> is right at eye level. Naked. Involuntarily, she lets out a squeak of shock.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver starts, and she notices that he had been gaping at her as she watches his mouth close and his eyes widen as he takes her in, “I’m dreaming.” He croaks out, “I have to be dreaming. Cats don’t morph into cute girls right in front of your eyes in real life. That doesn’t happen… this is a dream. It’s a fucked up dream but it has to be a dream.” He babbles and… did he say he thinks she is cute? Mentally, she shakes away the thought. <em>So</em> not appropriate. Instead, she focuses on another part of his ramble. He saw her change. With his own two eyes. This is not good.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m dreaming, right?” Oliver finally addresses her, before physically shaking his own head, “No, don’t talk to the dream woman, she’s not real. That’s not your cat, that’s not your cat, that’s not your cat.” Out of the corner of his eye, he looks back down at her, “You’re not Regina, right?” Felicity opens her mouth to respond, but winces as she does, the movement making pain stab through her aching jaw, “Oh,” Oliver blinks down at her, his focus turning to her and forgetting his own shock and confusion, “You’re hurting. And naked. You’re shivering, are you cold? What do you need?” Felicity once again tries to respond but has no time, “Wait here one moment and I’ll grab something.”</p><p> </p><p>Oliver darts off towards the bedroom (and Felicity definitely does <em>not</em> notice just how fine his ass is as he goes). As she sits there, cold and in pain and completely at a loss for an explanation of what just happened, Felicity contemplates just standing up and running away. Getting as far from here as possible before Oliver comes back. The thought makes her shift a little, as if her body is already trying to enact the plan, but even that slight movement makes her cry out in pain, her body unbelievably sore. And she is still naked. Yeah, there is no way that she will be able to get away. And Oliver saw her change, he knows what she looks like now and he will want an explanation and, short of quitting her job and changing her entire identity, there will be no way for her to avoid giving that to him forever. He is bound to visit QC at some point, what with his improving relationship with Moira and Walter, and knowing her luck he will find his way down to IT and she will spill a latte all over him. Again.</p><p> </p><p>The padding of bare feet alerts her to his presence once again, her human ears nowhere near as sensitive as her cat ones but still more useful than those of a regular human. She wants to turn to look at him, but her neck muscles are crying out at her just for having to keep her head upright and she thinks that it would be a very bad idea to try and move them again.</p><p> </p><p>“Here,” Oliver’s voice is softer, less panicked and confused than it was mere moments before. Felicity knows him well enough after months of cohabiting with him to know that it is because he has a goal now. Even if part of him still thinks he is dreaming, and even if he is terrified about what he just witnessed and the possibility that it is not a dream after all, he still has that part of him that needs to look after people. The part of him that made him want to be a chef to feed even strangers. The part of him that took in his young son, who he had only just met, without even blinking. The part of him that saw a stray cat and, even though he did not want her, took her in and did whatever made her comfy – no matter how ridiculous – just to please William and make her safe. That is the part of him that is running the show now and letting him put aside all of his own struggles with the situation just because there is a person hurting and in need of help and he will provide that help no matter what.</p><p> </p><p>Felicity’s heart beats faster, hurting more than any other part of her body as she realises just how amazing she knows this man is. Just how much she cares for him. Just how much she is going to miss him when he inevitably comes to his senses and kicks her out of his apartment and, subsequently, his life. Forever.</p><p> </p><p>He comes into her field of view, a pair or trousers safely around his waist and covering everything (he is still shirtless, at least, and clearly dressed in a hurry to get back to her) and he has some soft looking clothing in his hands. “I got the shirts and pants that I took from your bed to clean – if you are really Regina. I figured you’d be more comfortable in them since they’re familiar.” Once again, Felicity’s heart lurches at his thoughtful kindness even in a situation like this one, “Can you move, are you okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“I- It- it <em>hurts</em>.” Felicity manages to rasp out, the movement of her mouth sending sparks of pain running along her and the use of her vocal cords an agony in her throat after so long not being used in the sophisticated way of human speech.</p><p>“You can talk.” Oliver’s eyes widen as if he had not expected her to be able to, “Okay… okay, what hurts?” he refocuses.</p><p>“Ev- everything.” She moans, her voice pleading though she does not know what for.</p><p>“Okay.” Oliver gulps, “Okay, well I can’t just leave you lying there so I’m going to… to… I’m going to pick you up and lay you here on the couch and I’ll cover you with this blanket, okay?” Felicity can only whimper in response.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver makes his way to the sofa and places cushions on it to make almost a prop that he can put her on so that she is supported in an upright position. Once he is done, he grabs the blanket on the back of the sofa and unfolds it so that it is ready. He then walks over to her and, as gingerly and respectfully as he can, he hooks her legs over his arm and his arm under her back so that he can pick her up. The movement makes her whimper again, pained sounds escaping her mouth with each minute shift of her body but he makes the task swift and, in no time, he is putting her on the cushions, arranging her limbs so that she is as comfortable as possible, and then pulling the blanket over her.</p><p> </p><p>A little more comfortable now that she is supported and her body is covered, Felicity relaxes. “Um… what do you need now?” Oliver asks uncertainly, at a loss, but Felicity can barely hear him as her eyes are drifting closed, the pain melting into the pillows beneath her as the exhaustion overtakes her.</p><p>*************************</p><p>Oliver has no idea what to do. There is a naked woman fast asleep on his sofa who used to be his cat. And she can <em>talk</em>. So she was either a woman originally or that cat was always as intelligent as he feared. And he has not been able to wake himself up. So this is either a very vivid hallucination or, as he is beginning to fear, it is real. This is really happening to him.</p><p> </p><p>Completely lost, Oliver does the only thing that he knows to do in a crisis. He cooks. He cooks a whole lot. Firstly, he makes some light, healthy snacks that will help her – Regina? – regain strength once she awakens from passing out after her trauma. Then, once he is done with that and there are still no signs of her stirring, he starts on something a little more complicated. He gets out his trusty slow cooker and starts preparing a dinner for himself and William and, potentially, his new <em>human</em> occupant.</p><p> </p><p>It keeps him busy enough for a few hours that he is almost able to forget the woman asleep nearby but, after a while, he sees her beginning to stir. Dropping everything, he rushes back to her side to make sure she is okay. She shifts a little as she awakens, looking far less pained by movement, and as her eyes drift open, a little smile graces her lips. She is truly beautiful, “Ol’ver.” She mumbles, blinking up at him.</p><p> </p><p>“Hi… Regina?” he whispers back.</p><p>“S’not my name.” she frowns sleepily and it is the most adorable thing that Oliver thinks he has ever seen, “M’name’s ‘Licity.”</p><p>“Licity?”</p><p>“No,” her annoyed little groan does something to Oliver, “Ffff-lissss-ty.” She tries again.</p><p>Oliver tries to put together the two versions of the name she has attempted to give him, “Fe-li-ci-ty?” he asks carefully.</p><p>“Yay!” she squeals, “Tha’s right. F-liss-ity.” Oliver cannot help his grin as she once again gets her own name wrong. The sheer cuteness of the sleepy woman he is sitting beside is almost enough to make him forget the circumstances that led to him being beside her.</p><p> </p><p>But not quite enough, “How about I help you sit up a little?” he asks.</p><p>“M’kay.” Is her only reply, still only half aware. She must have slept extremely deeply. Which makes sense, she was pretty much knocked unconscious by her own loss of energy.</p><p> </p><p>Reaching forwards, he helps her find a more upright position, but the movement makes the blanket slip down her body and her breasts reappear. Oliver’s mouth goes dry. “Oh!” she exclaims, and Oliver is enchanted, “M’naked. ‘Liver m’naked.” She giggles, “<em>Oh</em>, m’naked in front of ‘Liver!” her eyebrows raise in surprise.</p><p>“Yeah.” His voice is choked as he tries very, <em>very</em> hard not to look at her chest, but he already saw and he <em>really</em> cannot get the image out of his head.</p><p>“Need clothes.” She demands, and, for the first time, she actually reminds him a little of Regina and all of the stubborn demands she would make.</p><p>“Okay, do you need help?” he asks, still trying to be a gentleman.</p><p>“Can do it.” She insists. She swings her legs over the side of the sofa, completely neglecting to try and keep the blanket on herself in her dopey half-awake state and Oliver has to squeeze his eyes closed as <em>everything</em> is revealed to him again. He did not fully take her in earlier when he was still so dazed but now… now it is hard not to.</p><p> </p><p>A small crash and yelp has him reopening his eyes to see Felicity blearily blinking up at him from the floor, having fallen over in her attempt to stand up, “I’ll help.” He states as he bends to pick her up, knowing that there is no way she can dress herself if she cannot even stand up straight but also struggling to maintain his composure. He wants to be respectful to her, but there is also a gorgeous naked woman in his arms and he is struggling to ignore that fact.</p><p> </p><p>As quickly as he can, he pulls his (<em>large</em>, far too large and she makes it look far too good) shirt over her until it is draped down to nearly her knees. He then has her lean on his shoulders as he kneels before her to help her feet into the smallest pair of sweats he owns, but that he still has to roll up several times at the waist and the hem in order to make them stay on her body and not trip her up.</p><p> </p><p>During the process, she manages to wake up a little more and she sits a little more carefully once he is done, looking around the room with focused eyes for the first time. “Oliver?” she asks, voice far clearer than before.</p><p>“Yeah?” his voice is soft, gentle.</p><p>“What happened?” she sounds so lost that all he wants is to sweep her into his arms and comfort her, but he also knows that he needs to respect her boundaries and instead stays where he is still kneeling several metres away.</p><p>“I… I don’t really know.” He admits truthfully.</p><p>“Can you tell me what you think happened?” she still sounds so vulnerable and Oliver is powerless but to give her what she is asking for.</p><p> </p><p>“You… you were Regina and I left you in here to take a shower and while I was in there I heard a commotion in here and I thought you were hurt and the house was being robbed so I ran in to check without even thinking-,”</p><p>“Oh.” She interrupts with a squeak, her eyes darting down to his crotch as an embarrassed flush fills her cheeks.</p><p>Oliver gulps at the reminder and then, ignoring her reaction, pushes on, “And… there was nobody there.” He recites it as if it happened to somebody else, not knowing how else to explain, “So I looked and then I found you. You… you still looked like Regina but you were bigger and your entire body was writhing and then you turned into… you.” He allows himself to look at her properly as he says it, “And you were um…” he gestures awkwardly at her body, making her blush as she catches his meaning, “And I carried you to the couch, covered you in a blanket and then you passed out from the pain or exhaustion or some combination of the two and that was it.”</p><p>“Oh.” She repeats.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver remembers, “I made you food to reenergise you, do you think you could eat something?” She winces a little but then bites her lip and nods. Oliver occupies himself with grabbing her food as he asks, “So… could you… explain?” at an octave a little higher than his natural tone. He turns just in time to see her frowning, reluctant to explain.</p><p> </p><p>“I suppose… I do owe you at least an explanation.” She admits.</p><p>“In your own time.” He assures her, placing her food before her.</p><p>As she starts to nibble on the food, she talks, “I was born like this. Every woman in my family is born able to turn into a cat thanks to some magical blood in our ancestry. My whole life, it’s just been a normal thing and sometimes I decide to turn and that’s that. But the other day… it was actually the day that you and I met, at the coffee shop,” her words make Oliver realise why she has seemed so familiar to him since her turn and his eyes widen in recognition.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, after that I started to feel funny at work. It was like my body was starting to change but I hadn’t given it permission to change and, no matter what I did, I couldn’t stop it. I finished work as fast as possible and then bolted out of there the second that I could. I didn’t even take any of my stuff with me. And then in the alley, I changed fully into my cat form, which you know as Regina, though it was always just me, and I couldn’t get myself to change back. I’d been sat in that alley for hours just trying to figure out how to change back or get help by the time that you and William came by. And then the two of you were just too determined to get me here, and too good at keeping me in and I couldn’t change back and I was… I felt so trapped. I lost all hope.</p><p> </p><p>“I found hope again in the two of you. I’ve been working so hard to find a way out of this situation, to change back and leave so I could minimise the amount of hurt I caused you both.” She turns to him, looking a little desperate, “Oliver, you must understand that hurting William – hurting you – it is the very last thing that I wanted, I only ever wanted the two of you to be happy.”</p><p> </p><p>A little taken aback by her vehemence, Oliver pats her arm in a placating fashion, thinking on her words, “So… your attempts to change back finally worked? How did you get it to happen?”</p><p>“No, that’s the strangest part.” She tells him, “When I turned the first time, it was a long process that I fought but couldn’t stop. This time, I once again wasn’t even trying to turn because you were in the house, but it came on me so fast and so hard and it hurt. But I couldn’t stop it again.” she tears up, “I’ve been stuck as a cat for so long and now I’m back and I can’t even enjoy it because I don’t know how long it will last or how to stop it if it happens again and I know I’m going to lose yo- uh… my control. I’m going to lose my control over my own body.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” he turns her head so that she is looking at him. Everything is insane right now. He just learnt that magic exists and there is at least one entire bloodline that can shift into a feline form, but she is sat there, crying her eyes out and it is the only thing that he can focus on. All that he wants is to alleviate her fears, to be there for her. “It’s going to be okay.” He assures her, “You’re going to be able to do what you need to now, you can research it properly and find a solution. I’m sure this was just some freak incident, you’re going to be okay.” He barely knows her, even though he has lived with her for months, but he just <em>needs</em> to comfort her. So he gently wraps his arms around her shoulders and sighs with relief as she slumps into him, accepting his comfort.</p><p> </p><p>It is in that moment that the door unlocks, opening to reveal a young boy with a grin on his face as he yells out “Dad! Regina! I’m back!” only to be stopped short by the sight of his father with his arms wrapped around a woman dressed in his father’s clothes.</p><p> </p><p>The smile drops from his face, replaced by confusion, “Dad?” he asks, “What’s happening?” Oliver has no idea how to respond. How can he possibly explain this whole thing to his son? The only reason that he believes it himself is because he witnessed it and he is doubting whether it is truly real even now.</p><p> </p><p>Felicity, on the other hand, knows exactly what to say, “William,” she manages a weak smile, “How did the math test go today? Did you remember to factor into polynomials first?”</p><p>William gapes at her, “How did you know that?”</p><p>Lip trembling nervously, “Because I was there as you tried to remember the procedure.” Her tremors increase violently, “I made sure that you didn’t get question three-b wrong.”</p><p>Still gaping, William responds, “But… the only person there was Regina…” Felicity just nods nervously, “How could you possibly know that?”</p><p>“Because up until a few hours ago, I was in the form of the cat that you know as Regina.”</p><p> </p><p>William, of course, does not believe them and Felicity is unwilling to try turning back into the cat again to convince him because she is so afraid of getting stuck there again. But then Oliver remembers that he never turned off the nanny cam he added the other day, and he finds the footage which he then plays for his son (right up until Felicity gets human enough that she begins to be recognisable but before her receding fur and changing body makes her nudity indecent. Then William believes them. He has a lot of questions that neither of them really know the answer to.</p><p>*************************</p><p>Oliver offers to put Felicity up in the spare bedroom as they work out what has happened and what to do next, but she refuses. She cannot stay under Oliver’s roof for one more moment. Not now that she is free and not as long as she is a burden to him. A problem to be fixed. She cannot be that to him. So instead, she asks him to drive her back to her place so that she can use her personal security system to get in without a key.</p><p> </p><p>William is still too confused to be sad at her departure, but Felicity can feel her heart breaking as she looks upon her boys for what she knows is likely to be the last time. There is no way that they will want her back with them anytime soon, not after everything. They must be glad to be rid of her, the strange woman impostor who invaded their home and acted as their cat for a short while. They do not know her, not like she knows them at all, and they never will. They will never want to.</p><p> </p><p>She gathers some of her stuff and then, without a single warning to anyone, she sets off for Las Vegas, heading to the one place where she knows there will be at least comfort, even if there are no answers. But she desperately hopes that there are answers.</p><p> </p><p>Donna cries for a solid hour when Felicity gets to Vegas. She had been contacted by the SCPD those months ago when Felicity was first reported missing and has been desperately awaiting news. Once she has cried herself out, her emotion turns to anger and she fiercely asks Felicity what could have possessed her to vanish for two months. Her mother’s anger is one thing too much for Felicity, whose heart already aches to be apart from Oliver and William, and she breaks down, tears spilling from her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“Felicity?” Donna asks, concerned, “What happened?”</p><p>“I- I- I d-don’t know.” She sniffles, “I don’t know where to start.”</p><p>Motherly instincts overtaking, Donna gathers Felicity into her arms, her own anger forgotten in the wake of her daughter’s tears, “Why don’t you try starting at the beginning?” she suggests.</p><p> </p><p>“The day I went missing I was at work. It was a totally normal day right up until lunch. The only unusual thing was that, when I went to the coffee place to get lunch, I bumped into Oliver Queen – you know, my boss’ boss’ boss’ son who had the kid he didn’t know about and opened a restaurant instead of joining the company?” Donna nods, “Well I bumped into him. But nothing happened, I wouldn’t even mention it if it weren’t for how everything turned out.” Felicity goes on to explain what happened, from her weird feelings at work to her emerging claws and fur to Oliver and William picking her up and everything that happened whilst she was living at their apartment. Except the nakedness part after she turned back.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, Felicity.” Donna says at the end of her story, eyes glassy, “You’ve been through so much. Changing against your will and being stuck like that for so long and now all of this heartache, baby girl-”</p><p>“What do you mean, heartache?” Felicity interrupts, tensing up defensively.</p><p>“Oh, baby.” Donna’s voice is sympathetic, “Don’t you know? You’re in love. With both of them, or at least the life that you could have with them both. You’re in love with Oliver and you love William like he’s your own.”</p><p>“I… I’m not…. I can’t be… it’s not like that, Mom. I mean… of course I care about them, how could I not? Oliver is the kindest man I think I’ve ever met and he is the best father to William and William… oh, Mom, he’s just the best kid, everything about him is remarkable, but I’m not… I don’t…”</p><p>“Felicity.” Donna’s voice is gentle but stern, her expression immediately familiar to Felicity from her childhood and, just like it always did then, it makes Felicity shut up and actually think about what she is saying.</p><p>And it dawns on her, “Oh, God.”</p><p> </p><p>She is in love with Oliver Queen.</p><p> </p><p>She loves William like he is her own son.</p><p> </p><p>Oh, God. She is screwed.</p><p> </p><p>Her tears flow all the more freely, “It’s not like it matters anyway.” She sobs, “They’ll still never want to see me again. I’m still such a mess of a witch’s descendant that I can’t even control my own shifting. I can’t go back. I can’t do anything until I know that my body is my own again, I barely made it out last time!” she can feel that she is growing a little hysterical but she cannot help it.</p><p>“Felicity, hey, hey, baby girl. Calm down.” Donna soothingly strokes Felicity’s hair and it works, another thing from her childhood that she had almost forgotten. How could she have forgotten how amazing her mother – even in all of her chaotic glory and even with a personality so far removed from Felicity’s own – is at this? At being there for her and making her feel better.</p><p> </p><p>The two of them sit there, not talking and just enjoying being together as Felicity allows Donna to soothe her for the first time in years. When her breathing is finally normal, Donna speaks again, “You haven’t lost control of your shifting and your ancestors would be so, so proud of you for everything you have endured and how well you have borne these burdens.”</p><p>“How can you possibly say that, Mo-”</p><p>“Let me speak.” Donna says, not unkindly, “This isn’t the first time that something like this has happened.”</p><p>That makes Felicity sit upright, “It isn’t?” she wipes some tears away.</p><p>“No. Your bubbe told me about this when I was younger, after I experienced something similar. I should have remembered to tell you.”</p><p>“Please.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sometimes, when the universe decides to take an interest in certain lives and events, it has been known to get involved and… push things along, so to speak.” Donna explains, “Years ago, when I was pregnant with you, I was crossing a road and a truck just suddenly appeared, going so fast I had no time to prepare or react to it. I should’ve been hit. It should have hurt both of us. But instead, faster than I could process, I could feel my body shifting against my will and then I was a cat and the truck passed right over me. Something saved my life that day, and your bubbe called it the universe when she told me of all sorts of instances when similar things happened to our ancestors.</p><p> </p><p>“It seems to me like the universe decided to push you and Oliver together that day that you met. Now, I can’t say for sure why that would happen, or what the goal was. I can’t even say for sure that it is what happened. But it seems to me that the universe very much wanted you and Oliver to spend these last few months together, and that something happened that meant that you did not need to be forced together anymore that led to you turning back.”</p><p> </p><p>Felicity is quiet, trying to process what she has just learnt, “So… you’re saying that this probably won’t happen again? I won’t get stuck again? But also that I have no control over whether it happens or not.”</p><p>Donna smiles sadly, “I’m sorry, baby, there’s really no predicting these things. But if it helps, I’ve never heard of this happening more than once to anybody before.” Felicity has no idea how to feel about that, but her mother pipes up, “Baby, why don’t you try turning again?”</p><p>Her muscles seize, “I- no, I can’t. What if I… what if it happens again? I can’t do that, Mom, I can’t be like that with no choice again.”</p><p>“I know, baby, but if you let the fear of it take over, you’re letting the fear take away your choices too. I’m so sure that it will be okay, and I’m right here if it’s not. It won’t be like that last time again.”</p><p>Even as her cheeks flush with embarrassment, Felicity whispers, “Promise?” just needing her mother’s support.</p><p>“I’m here for you, baby.” Donna squeezes Felicity’s arm reassuringly.</p><p> </p><p>Taking in deep, shaky breaths that do not feel like enough to fill her lungs with air, Felicity pulls herself away from Donna, rising to her feet. Her entire body is trembling but she knows that her mom is right, this is something that she has to do for herself. Up until three months ago, she loved her feline form with her beautiful coat of fur and bright eyes. She loved her agility, running around the rooftops and climbing things that her human form could never hope to. She cannot let this one incident steal that from her.</p><p> </p><p>Drawing on instinct for the first time in almost longer than she can remember, she lets the change overtake her. Her body shivers, prickles running along her spine and shooting down all of her nerves as her body melts into its much smaller form. This time, there is barely any pain, the natural change as easy and familiar as breathing. She can feel that the differences between this change and the ones before are night and day. This is smooth, elegant almost, where the last had been unnatural and awkward and agonising.</p><p> </p><p>Within seconds, she is looking up at Donna with her widened cat vision, her clothes in a heap around her as she shakes out her fur. Donna smiles as she politely turns around, “Better, right?” and Felicity nods her small head in agreement, so happy to be feeling so comfortable in her own skin. Even after turning back into a human she has still been feeling like a stranger in her body until this moment, back as a cat, but in control of her own changes. Turning back into a human is as simple as shaking off one skin for the other, and pulling back on her clothes before telling Donna that she can turn around again.</p><p> </p><p>“Well,” her mother grins in that way that lets her know that she is unlikely to like what is to come next, “Now that we have one problem sorted out, we’d best get working on the next.”</p><p>*************************</p><p>Oliver cannot stop thinking about her. Felicity. The woman who was, for two months, Regina. And not thinking about her in the ‘my cat turned into this woman’ kind of way. No, he cannot stop thinking about her in a ‘wow that woman was remarkable’ kind of way. Not just because he saw her naked. Or… at least, not only because he saw her naked. He cannot ignore the fact that he saw her naked… nor can he ignore just how fantastic she looked naked. But he can remember that she was dead on her feet when that happened and it was definitely not the circumstances that either of them would have wished for it to happen in. Not that she wishes that it could have happened, he has no idea what she would have wanted.</p><p> </p><p>But… yeah. Maybe he wishes that it would happen in different circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>There was just something about her. A brightness in her eyes that he originally saw in her as Regina but did not get the full force of until she turned her very human gaze upon him. The way that she blushed when she realised she had been naked before him and he before her. The intelligence in her voice. The need to protect her that arose when he saw her agonised on the floor. The softness in her face when she looked at William. The way that she spoke to him, to them both, with something deep and important in her voice. All of it. It all makes her impossible to get off his mind. And he is finding more and more that he does not really want to get her off his mind anyway.</p><p> </p><p>What he wants is to find her again. He wants to get to know her, to be himself with her as a human rather than to be who he was with Regina. He wants to see the glimpses of humanity that he saw in her over the last few months in her every expression and action and he wants to see it all magnified by her as she truly is.</p><p> </p><p>She is proving impossible to find though. He has looked for her, but when he spoke to SCPD about a missing woman named Felicity being found, he was informed that she has still not been located. It has been a week, a full week since she practically ran from him and his home and his son, never to look back. He is starting to worry about where she could be and why she would not immediately announce her return.</p><p> </p><p>He is also finding the persistent fear that, after everything, she will want nothing to do with him very hard to escape. It would be a fair fear. He basically (though unknowingly) kept her prisoner in his home for two months, even as she was being kept prisoner by her own body. He would not blame her if she never wanted anything to do with anything that even remotely reminds her of that time ever again. But he hopes that she does. Because he wants to find out everything that he can about her, to appease his insatiable curiosity about the fascinating woman he had hosted for months, to know if she is as smart as she seemed when she was a cat, if she is as adorable in everyday life as she was in the few hours he got around her between her changing back and her running. He needs to know. There was just something about her.</p><p>*************************</p><p>After spending a week at her mother’s place (after all, what is one week extra of being missing in the grand scheme of things?), Felicity returned home. Between her general tech expertise and her mother’s, quite frankly frightening, knowledge of criminal organisations picked up from years of serving the criminal rich at various casinos, they were able to concoct a believable story about her being kidnapped. They planted evidence everywhere they could, spinning the most plausible story possible. They even chose to blame her abduction on an organisation that the SCPD are already looking into in order to prevent wasting their time on anybody innocent for a crime that was never committed.</p><p> </p><p>Now, she is home. She has been for several days. QC insisted upon her taking at least an extra week off work to recover, and have offered to pay for her therapy. Felicity was reluctant to accept any counselling because she was not actually kidnapped, but thinking about how trapped she felt at times in that apartment, how terrified she had been to try turning back into her cat form afterwards, she agrees to go. She will just have to be careful about what she says.</p><p> </p><p>A knock startles her from her thoughts, making her look to the door with surprise. She has no idea who it could be, she only just came from seeing her mom and there is not really anybody else in the city who would come and visit. Nevertheless, she makes her way to the door and opens it to reveal… Oliver. It is Oliver. At her door. Hand raised as if to knock upon it again. Looking right at her.</p><p> </p><p>“Oliver?” she gasps, unable to help herself as she jumps back a little at the sight of him. It is a little strange to be looking not at his shins but at his chest now. Her neck aches far less when she cranes it up to look at him.</p><p>“Fe-li-ci-ty?” he sounds slightly uncertain, as if testing out her name on his tongue, “Hi, I’m Oliver Queen.”</p><p>“I know who you are. You’re the guy who kept me as his pet cat for two months. Which I probably shouldn’t have brought up, because you knew that. And it’s a bit awkward and uncomfortable to think about it. And it’s probably the reason why you were able to come to my apartment and listen to me babble. Which will end. In three… two… one… why are you here? Actually, better yet, <em>how</em> are you here? How did you find me?”</p><p> </p><p>For several seconds, Oliver says nothing, just blinking at her bewilderedly, but then he gathers himself and a small smile spreads across his lips, “Ah,” he remarks, “So I was right. You are this adorable in everyday life and not just when waking up from a shifting induced coma.” Felicity can only stammer in response, her face flaming up, “Um… so I may have looked you up and found out your name… and then I may have found out that you work at my family’s company and then looked you up in the system while pretending to my stepfather that I was there to talk to him about finances at <em>Verdant</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>“But… why?” she asks, voice small.</p><p>“Well… it’s not exactly every day that your cat turns into a human. At least not in my household,” he jokes, “And it’s also not every day that the human she turns into is adorable and sweet and clearly cares about your son deeply. And it’s definitely not every day that she bolts at the mere suggestion that she can stay and then vanishes without a word for several weeks.”</p><p>“Oh,” she frowns, “You were… concerned about me?”</p><p>“Of course,” his voice is soft, “You passed out for hours and then ran out into the world wearing only some borrowed clothes and with nothing on you and then I called up SCPD about a missing persons case to find out whether you’d gotten home safely and they said that you were still missing. Of course I worried.”</p><p>“Oh.” Felicity has no idea how to respond to that, “Well… here I am. I’m okay now.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah I uh… I already knew, I’d checked in with SCPD again and they said you’d been found. That’s not why I came… well, I mean, it is a little because I wanted to see you safe with my own eyes but… uh…” his cheeks turn ever so slightly pink and Felicity has no idea what to make of it, “Really I came around because I wanted to see you.” He admits.</p><p>“You… wanted to see me?”</p><p>“Yeah.” He confirms, “I- I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since you left and not just because I was worried but also because… I want to get to know you. I want to know everything and I was hoping that you’d want to know me as a human as well as how you knew me when you were a cat. And also, maybe, I was thinking I could bribe you with William if you didn’t? I could tell how much you care about him and he’s been asking after you ever since you left so it would make both me and him happy if you wanted to come and spend time with us? Both together and… apart.”</p><p> </p><p>Still not really processing what is happening, she asks, “Apart? Like babysitting?”</p><p>“No… I mean apart like William would be somewhere else and you and I would go somewhere… together.” He manages to say.</p><p>“Together?” she parrots.</p><p>“Together.”</p><p>“I don’t want to read too much into this, but are you asking me out on a date? Like a date? Like an actual date, like a <em>date</em>, date?” she gapes up at him.</p><p>“Sure… I mean, the implication with together being that it would be you and I, alone… somewhere together, getting to know one another.” Both of them are bright red, “But, I mean I totally understand if that’s not what you’d want. I just… you fascinate me and I’ve liked you for all of the scant few hours I’ve known you as a human and I feel like there could be something and I wanted to explore that but if that’s just me and you never want to see the man who essentially kept you captive for months then I totally get it and I’ll just lea-”</p><p>“I’d like that.” She interrupts, unable to meet his eyes, “Both the hanging out with you and William part and the… uh… the <em>date</em> part.”</p><p> </p><p>His mouth splits in the widest grin she thinks that she has ever seen on him, “Great. That’s… great. I’ll just… when are you next free?”</p><p>“Where’s William?” she asks instead of answering, an idea blossoming in her mind.</p><p>“He’s at his grandparent’s.”</p><p>“So… you’re free? Now.”</p><p>“Yeah.” He answers quickly, eagerly.</p><p>“Do you…” she feels so awkward but also her heart is so full and she does not think she has been this happy or excited for anything in a very long time, “Do you want to come in? We can get a head start on that whole getting to know one another thing.”</p><p>“I’d love that.”</p><p>*************************</p><p>Felicity is unlike any other woman Oliver has ever known, let alone dated. She is brilliant, of course, every word out of her mouth is pure genius, but that is not it. Her heart is what he finds most remarkable, though there is a lot else to find remarkable about her. She is so kind and compassionate and she loves with everything she has. It draws him in and he finds himself falling faster than he ever has before, going well beyond the realms of whatever he called love in his very checked past.</p><p><br/>
He has been dating her for over two months when he realises that he is irrevocably in love with her. They are celebrating having been together for longer than she was living in his house as Regina and nothing special happens, nothing profound. She is just sitting there, being herself and telling him that he deserves to be happy and that is it. He just knows.</p><p> </p><p>The way that she is with William helps. Never has she held his heart more tightly than in the moments that the three of them are together. She loves William unreservedly, never treating him like anything other than her own son. Of course, she does try to keep boundaries in place and Oliver knows that it is because she is aware that she is only his girlfriend and not his wife. She is trying so hard not to be like a replacement for Samantha, and instead to be a new figure in William’s life and that quiet awareness and consideration is everything that it takes for him to fall for her all over again. He thinks she is perfect. He does not tell her that, he knows she would reprimand him, tell him that nobody is perfect.</p><p> </p><p>He knows that she has her flaws, he is not blind to them, but they make her who she is and he would never change that. He would never want to change her.</p><p> </p><p>William loves her too. She must have some sort of power over people with their genetics because it takes so little time for William to completely adore her. They have a lot in common, and Felicity is always willing to entertain him by turning into her cat form or shifting just her hand into a paw to freak him out after she gets over her fear of getting stuck as a cat again.</p><p>*************************</p><p>Felicity loves her boys. Being back in their life is more than she ever could have hoped for, and so much better than she ever imagined. She loves going out with Oliver, spending the night with him. She loves quiet moments where they just enjoy one another’s company. She loves the evenings when the three of them sit on the sofa and just watch a show together, happy to be around one another. She loves playing video games with William, both of them constantly trying to one up the other. She even loves tutoring him, watching his brilliant mind at work as she guides him in the right direction.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver asks her to move in with him four months into them dating, he tells her that William has been bugging him to ask for months and it makes all of her reservations melt away as she knows that living there with them is where she is meant to be. It is what will make her happiest.</p><p> </p><p>They decide that, instead of her moving into their apartment, the three of them will all move into a new place together. Somewhere with more space and less bad memories. Not that her memories of their time together for those first two months are bad, per se, just that they are clouded by how trapped she was and how little they knew. She much prefers the four months of memories that they have been making together since, and hopes to keep making them in a new place that is all of theirs.</p><p> </p><p>The night before they move in, Felicity picks up a gift for William. She has noticed that, whilst he is making impressive progress with his panic attacks and PTSD, he has been clutching at his chest whenever she has an episode and wants to do what she can to stop that. She presents her gift to him the minute that they open the door to their new home. Much to Oliver’s chagrin, it is a new cat, a rescue cat. She looks eerily similar to how Felicity does in her cat form (though Felicity checked thoroughly to make sure that this one is actually a feline and not a shifted human) but with green eyes instead of blue. William loves her immediately and the little cat seems to like him too. He names her Amelia because he “Had to work hard to get her.” He says, giving his dad a quick scowl before returning his attention to their new family member. Oliver grumbles a lot about it, but Felicity can tell that seeing his son so happy is making him secretly pleased with Felicity’s new home gift.</p><p> </p><p>Living with them is another thing entirely. She treasures it. Waking up in Oliver’s arms every morning, hugging William goodbye before school, playing with Amelia who is very interested in Felicity’s Regina form, enjoying her new diet at the hands of her actual personal professional chef of a boyfriend. Even when he makes her eat healthy things like broccoli. Somehow he makes the green stuff actually taste good and she is yet to figure out how he does it but she will absolutely never admit to him that she likes it.</p><p> </p><p>Donna comes to visit shortly after she moves in and the older woman gushes over Oliver for hours until William gets back from school and then she turns her attentions to him. Much to her terror, her mother and Oliver get on like a house on fire and actually end up exchanging phone numbers. Before Donna leaves, she turns to Felicity and says, tearfully, “I’m so happy that you’re happy. I told you, baby girl, the universe got involved. Looks like it was helping you out after all.” Oliver asks her that night what Donna was referring to. When Felicity tells him, a little apprehensively, about her mother’s theory, Oliver just nods and says that it makes sense.</p><p>*************************</p><p>On the day that he proposes to her, exactly a year after their first, unorthodox meeting, he feels like his stomach is about ready to turn itself inside out. He is so nervous, so worried that she will say no. They have taken a short weekend break together, leaving William with Thea. The only people who know of his plans are Thea – who latched onto Felicity the moment that they met and has been a great friend ever since – and John, who Oliver is pretty sure actually prefers Felicity anyway and who probably also told Lyla. He intentionally neglects to tell Tommy, knowing that his old friend is not the best at keeping secrets.</p><p> </p><p>They go to a park and, although Oliver had planned to propose over a fancy dinner that night, he just cannot wait. The setting is too beautiful in the crisp wintery air as February snowflakes begin to fall and he is too in love.</p><p> </p><p>He had nothing to fear, she says yes with tears in her eyes, launching herself at him where he kneels and kissing him senseless. They celebrate their engagement thoroughly that night.</p><p> </p><p>When they go home, Thea squeals the minute that she sees them, Felicity wearing the ring on her finger. Felicity does not pay attention to her sister-in-law to be though. She goes straight to William and asks him if they have his blessing and Oliver has never loved her more. He has never loved William more than when he says, grinning, “Are you kidding? I’ve been telling Dad to ask you to marry him since you moved in!”</p><p> </p><p>It takes them just a few months before they lose patience and ask John to marry them, with just William present, exactly a year after Oliver went to Felicity’s house and asked her for a date.</p><p>*************************</p><p>“Will she be able to turn into a cat too?” it is William who asks, excitable and scientifically intrigued all at once.</p><p>Sandwiched between her two boys as they scroll through Netflix for something to watch, Felicity tells him, “Yes. Every woman in my line has been able to so she should too.”</p><p>“What kind? Will she look like you?” William presses, “Because genetically speaking she-”</p><p>“William,” Felicity laughs, “We’re talking about people turning into cats here. The genetics get a little skewed.”</p><p>“Well does Donna look like you?”</p><p>“In some ways.” Felicity says contemplatively, “But it’s linked to other things, like hair colour and hormone production, so in a way my father had some effect on what I look like as Regina.”</p><p>“Oh.” William frowns, trying to work it all out in his head.</p><p>“Brooklyn Nine-Nine?” Oliver suggests, interrupting his son’s thought process as he strokes a happily purring Amelia, who he dotes on possibly even more than he had doted on Regina.</p><p>“Yes!” Felicity cheers, grabbing for her pot of mint chip as she settles under Oliver’s arm, pulling William in to kiss his forehead as she does.</p><p> </p><p>It is not until that night, as Oliver lays with his hand warming her belly and his head pillowed on her chest, that he says, “I hope she does look like you. In every way, you’re perfect.”</p><p>“Oliver” Felicity laughs as she runs her fingers soothingly through his hair, about to object.</p><p>“It’s true.” He turns so that they are eye to eye, “I thought of a name.”</p><p>“You did?” this peaks her interest.</p><p>“Yeah.” He nuzzles her softly, “I was thinking… Mia.”</p><p>“As in… short for <em>Amelia</em>?” Felicity gapes at him.</p><p>“Well… yes… but also because I like it.”</p><p>Instead of immediately yelling at him for being ridiculous and trying to name her after a cat, Felicity thinks on it. She can tell how serious he is, “Frack,” she groans, “I’m going to hate myself for this but… it’s sweet. And fiery. I love it too.”</p><p>“You do?” Oliver’s grin is infectious, “Hi Mia.” He says, sliding his way down to Felicity’s swollen stomach to press his lips against it, “It’s your daddy, Momma and I just decided that your name is going to be Mia. I’ll tell you all about where that comes from when you’re old enough to understand.”</p><p>Felicity groans again, “I can’t believe we’re naming our daughter after our cat!”</p><p>“Well… we’re not really. And I figured it’s better than naming her Gina.” Oliver protests.</p><p>Felicity grimaces, “We’re definitely not naming our kid after <em>me</em> as a cat.”</p><p>“No,” Oliver agrees, “She’s definitely a Mia anyway.”</p><p>It makes Felicity soften. Mia. She likes the sound of it, the way Oliver says it is so tender, “She is. Hi Mia.” She whispers to her belly.</p><p>Oliver smiles, “It’s perfect.”</p><p> </p><p>And it is.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you haven't read Shel's fics... do it. Do it now. They are incredible, you will not regret it. The link to her profile is up above and she's also on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/andachippedcup">@andachippedcup</a>.</p><p>I'm also on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/MagusLibera">@MagusLibera</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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